New Westminster Rumour Mill

This is first of what will hopefully be a monthly post here, where I report back on all of the rumours that are floating around the lovely city of New Westminster.

First up: the parkade. Rumour has it that Council has seen the light and they will not be tearing down half the parkade. Instead they are doubling-down and adding an extra three levels of parking! They will also be taking Columbia Street off its diet (come on people, everybody knows that diets don’t work) by removing the bike lanes and angled parking. It is expected that this will appeal to the mobile baby boomer, and the increased vehicle traffic and parking will return downtown New Westminster to the glory years of the 70s and 80s!

The canceling of the Royal Lancers dance has ruffled some feathers recently. While this is a sad end to a 100-year old tradition of grown men knocking on doors to ask fathers to turn over their 12-year old girls to go for a dance, some have felt that the dance has seen better days. Instead, the Royal Lancers will turn to the 1916 May Day celebrations for inspiration, where a demonstration of military maneuvers replaced the folk dance. Rumour has it that for the 100th anniversary of these celebrations, the Royal Lancers will shoot 12-year old girls out of cannons.

The Braid Street Bailey Bridge is open! As it is a new crossing, a modest toll of $5 for Coquitlam residents will apply.

The 2015 Metro Vancouver Transportation and Transit Plebiscite is underway, although you wouldn’t know it because nobody has been talking about it lately. Has anybody heard anything about this thing?

That’s all for now from the New Westminster Rumour Mill!

Why I voted ‘yes’

Today I voted ‘yes’.

Every morning I and my wife walk our daughter to school. We have to cross one of New Westminster’s truck routes at Eighth Avenue and Cumberland Street. It’s a relatively busy intersection, especially during the morning and evening rush hours. It gts filled with trucks, as you’d expect, but also from commuters dodging the tolls on the Port Mann Bridge.

In our first three months of walking to and from school we were nearly hit by cars twice, both by drivers who were inattentive and probably pissed off from being stuck in so much traffic. This morning we saw a minor fender bender at the intersection. I talked with a crossing guard at that intersection, and she sees near-misses all the time. It’s not a very safe intersection for pedestrians.

With a ‘no’ vote this only gets worse. Traffic will get worse, we’ll have more inattentive drivers on the streets, and even worse, we’ll have more angry drivers on the streets. Drivers get angrier as their commutes lengthen. Increased traffic leads to higher stress.

Yes, there are other benefits to improving our transporation system. Thousands of people every day won’t be passed up by buses. Low wage earners will have a cheaper and more reliable transportation option. Seniors and handicapped people will have better HandiDart service.

But I voted ‘yes’ to ensure our streets don’t become more dangerous than they already are for pedestrians. I voted ‘yes’ in hopes that a near-miss doesn’t become a hit. I voted ‘yes’ so I won’t hopefully have to explain to my daughter why a driver nearly ran her down again.

Down with the parkade!

For some reason New Westminster’s Front Street Parkade is back in the news. It appears that some people missed the years and years of public debate and consultation about the parkade’s removal and think that now’s the time to re-open that debate.

It isn’t.

The parkade is still a waste of money. The parking isn’t needed. It turns Front Street into a noisy, fume-laden disaster of a road. Visiting businesses on Front Street is, well, something nobody does. You don’t go for a stroll down Front Street like you would down any other street in New Westminster.

And now people want to save it? Hogwash.

Sure, turn it into a park. That sounds like a grand idea. A park that celebrates the disaster fifty feet below. A park commemorating the failed businesses of Front Street, perhaps. A park reminiscing about what Front Street could have been, if only the parkade had been torn down.

No. This nonsense has gone on long enough. Down with the parkade!

The astoundingly bad logic of Jordan Bateman

Today BC Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced a ten-year transportation plan for BC. During the press conference he was asked about the Metro Vancouver transportation plebiscite, and if the province is considering reforming TransLink, because this is one of the reasons why people are considering voting ‘no’. His answer?

At this point in time, the province has no plans to make any further improvements to governance at TransLink.

So vote ‘yes’ or vote ‘no’, no matter what happens in the plebiscite the province has no plans to change TransLink’s governance.

And what does Jordan Bateman have to say about this?

Stone killed yes side claim that change will come to TransLink either way. Voting NO the best way to show gov’t we want this fixed.

He’s saying that you should vote ‘no’ so TransLink’s governance will be fixed, using Todd Stone’s statement of “no plans to make any further improvements to governance at TransLink” as support.

What kind of crazy logic is running through Mr. Bateman’s mind? It’s mind-boggling just how bad this logic is!

Seriously, that’s pretty weak, Jordan.